The Gift

“Get out of the bed! It’s 2 in the afternoon!” Mom yells.

She is always doing that. She can’t let me sleep and enjoy my college break.

“You should read a book or, better yet, submit more scholarship applications. You should submit at least 4 a week,” she says.

“I’ll do it later,” I call back.

“Do it now or no video games for the rest of your break,” she replies.

Why can’t she just let me relax?

“Have you set your goals for 2021?”

“No. I don’t have any,” I reply.

“I am not asking you to plan out your life. Just write down two things you want to achieve this year. Can you do that?” She mumbles, “How are we related?”

Mom is always trying to make me more like her. She wants me to create vision boards and set goals. That’s just not my thing. I hear her footsteps parading down the hall.

“You better not still be in that bed!” she yells.

Quickly, I spring up and escape into the bathroom, my safe haven. I spend the afternoon playing video games. It’s been a great day so far.

“Don’t forget to take out the garbage!” my mom yells from the kitchen.

Ugh! I might as well take a break and do it now because if I don’t, she will never leave me alone.

On my way back upstairs to our apartment, I meet our new neighbor. “Hello there, young man,” he says with his door open, revealing a bunch of packed boxes.

“Hello,” I reply with a friendly smile.

“Can you give me a hand with something?” he asks.

Although I want to return to my video games, I decide to help out. He looks old, and I would feel really bad if I saw the ambulance here later because I didn’t help.

“What do you have in here?” I ask, moving a heavy box.

“Ah, this one is full of books and journals.” He reaches inside and pulls out a black notebook that is lying on top. It was an ordinary notebook with a black hardcover, spiral binding, and pages.

“What’s that for?” I ask as he extends the notebook towards me.

“This is for you. Thanks for your help. You kids like to doodle, right?” he says with a big smile.

I would have preferred a twenty-dollar bill, but whatever. I take the notebooks and say, “Thank you.” Turning to walk out the front door, I am happy I can get back to business. It’s game time.

While getting ready for bed, I keep looking at the black notebook sitting on my nightstand. My mom’s words are playing over and over in my head. You should write down your goals, blah blah blah. “Ok fine,” I whisper, pulling a pen out of my nightstand and picking up the notebook. What should I write? Got it. One, I wish I had an Xbox One. Two, I wish I had $20,000 for school, so my mom would get off my case. I set the notebook back on my nightstand and turn off my light.

“Get out of the bed!” my mom yells. Her frantic voice startles me awake.

“It’s only noon,” I reply.

“That’s the problem. I don’t understand how you can just sleep all day. Enjoy it while you can because when school starts back up, you better be up bright and early for class. I am not paying for you to sleep. And I want to see excellent grades. I should have made you get a job; then you could at least be earning money for your tuition.” She continues talking to herself as she leaves my room.

A knock on the front door snaps me out of my thoughts.

“It’s a package for you, from your auntie,” Mom hollers from the living room.

Excited, I rush to open my package. “No way! It’s an Xbox One.” I open the card that is with it. Sorry this is a little late. Happy belated birthday. Love, Aunt Tia.

“Great, now you are going to be playing games all day, again,” Mom complains as she storms off.

A few hours later, Mom brings me a letter. As I open it, I can’t believe what I am seeing. A check with my name on it for $20,000 is enclosed. Apparently, I won one of the scholarships I applied for a few months back. Suddenly, I remember the notebook. I run to my room in disbelief. “No way,” I whisper. I open the notebook. There it is in black and white. One, I wish I had an Xbox One. Two, I wish I had $20,000 for school. This has to be a coincidence. Magic isn’t real. Is this notebook granting my wishes? There is only one thing left for me to do. Write something else in the notebook and see if it comes true.

As I get into bed, I pick up the notebook and write, “I wish I had a job so my mom can stop stressing me.” My mind wonders about the possibility of a magic notebook as I lie in bed. I wake up to the sound of a blender. Really, Mom? I look at my phone; it’s 8:30 a.m. She could at least let me sleep until noon. As I enter the kitchen, my mom flashes a smile. The kind she gives me when she is secretly up to something.

“Good morning,” she says.

Worried, I reply, “Good morning.”

I see her eyes dart to a huge box in the living room.

“I’m glad you’re up. I have a project for you to work on while I am at work.” I knew she was up to something.

“Mom, I was planning to play my Xbox today. I have a tournament with my friends.”

“That’s not a real job. When you get one of those, I will leave you alone,” she replies as she heads down the hall to her room. She yells back, “And I want that done by the end of the day.”

I open my mouth to reply but realize there is no point in fighting it. She always gets her way.

After several hours and two splinters, I am finished. She now has a successfully assembled entertainment center. I bag up all the trash to take downstairs to the dumpster. Right before I walk out the door, my phone rings. “Hello?”

“Hi, is this RJ Williams?” the voice asks.

“Yes, it is,” I reply.

“Great! This is Jackie from the student advisory office. I am calling to let you know that the company you interviewed with at the beginning of the fall semester is going to resume its internship program this summer. They would like you to be a part of the program. I just sent you an email with all the details, and all you have to do is formally accept the offer. Once you do that, you will officially have yourself a job. Give me a call back if you have any questions. Thanks, and have a great day.”

“Thank you, goodbye,” I manage to get out.

You officially have yourself a job. The notebook! That can’t be a coincidence. I go downstairs and drop off the trash. On my way back up, I catch my neighbor coming out of his apartment.

“Hey, sir!” I stop him as he passes me.

“Hi, Son,” he says.

“Can I ask you a question about the notebook?”

“Sure, are you having fun with your doodles?”

“Um,” I mutter, knowing there is no easy way to say this without sounding crazy. “Is the notebook magic?”

“Magic?” He laughs. “There is no such thing as magic.”

He turns and walks down the stairs, laughing quietly.

Ok, I must be going crazy. There is no such thing as magic, right?

Lying in my bed, I ponder everything that has happened. I sit up, turn on my lamp, and look at the notebook. Ok, I don’t know if this is magic or not, but everything I write in this black notebook comes true. I pick up the notebook, and on a new page, I write, “I will get straight A’s in all my college classes, and when I graduate, I will get an amazing offer for a lot of money from my top choice company.” I close the notebook, turn off the lamp, and lay my head on my pillow.

I wake up to the sun shining into my room. Mom isn’t yelling at me to get out of the bed. I look at my phone: 10 a.m. I sit up and look over at my nightstand. The notebook is gone. I jump up and search all over my room. The notebook is nowhere to be found. I check the rest of the apartment, too, and still no notebook. When my mom emerges from her room, I ask her if she has seen it.

“What notebook? You mean you actually have something to write in? Something other than a game controller?” She smiles and then heads for the kitchen to grab a snack.

“This is serious, Mom.” I tell her about the magical things that happened every time I wrote in the notebook.

“Son, listen to me. There is no such thing as magic. You got an Xbox because your auntie wanted to get you something for your birthday. She knows how much you love your games. You got a $20,000 scholarship because you put in a bunch of applications. You’re welcome, by the way, since I had to beg you to fill them out. You got a job because you interviewed for an internship. That doesn’t sound like magic to me.”

I know that notebook had something to do with this. I thought about the neighbor. I run into the hallway and knock on his door. There is no reply. “Hello?” I call out as I knock again. Tired of waiting, I return to my apartment. “Mom, who is the neighbor next door? The old guy to the left?” I ask.

“There is no neighbor next door. That apartment has been vacant for a month,” she replies.

“But I met the neighbor.”

“Must have been another neighbor from a different floor. Nobody lives to the left of us.”

I enter the hallway again. The door to the neighbor’s apartment is open. I peeked my head inside.

“Can I help you?” a lady asks.

The whole place is completely empty, nothing inside. How can that be? I helped my neighbor with his boxes two days ago.

“Uh, where is the old man who lives here?” I ask.

“Nobody lives here. I should know; I am the landlord. We’re about to paint the walls and get it rented.”

I spend the afternoon thinking about the last few days. Was I dreaming? Was there really an old guy and a notebook? Getting into bed, I notice a letter on my nightstand.

Dear RJ,

It was nice meeting you. All you need is to believe, and with hard work, all of your dreams can come true. Sometimes we need a little help to realize that. You got the Xbox from your aunt because she remembered all the times you have helped her out and she wanted to do something nice for your birthday. You got the $20,000 and the internship because you listened to your mom and put in applications. Don’t forget, work hard and believe, and you can do anything. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to write your goals down.

P.S.

I got your last entry. You will be a great animator.

The Angel Next Door